The Vallecillo’s

I can’t believe what Santa brought me this year! I mean, he actually brought me exactly what I asked for even though I though I hadn’t exactly been a very good boy this year.

My list this year included a “toy”, along with some other goodies I’ve been wanting, never thinking Santa would actually humor me with it. Well guess what, Santa did and completely took me by surprise. This “toy” I speak of was a skateboard, but not exactly the kind you have in mind. Yes it has a wood board, 2 axels and 4 wheels, but it also has 4 lead-acid batteries and a motor. The E-Glide 42 Special I asked for is definitely not your father’s skateboard. This is one fierce skateboard capable of reaching 20 MPH in about 4 seconds with a range of 12-15 miles. Oh yeah, this is going to be fun! Now I have to think about how to best protect all of my 39 year-old parts while I’m doing 20 MPH down the road on a skateboard

If that wasn’t enough I also got a new pocket digital camera in the form of a Canon PowerShot SD700 IS, a digital tire pressure gauge, Bvulgari cologne, a pair of Crocs, shirts, pants and even a Bombay Company pocket changer! I’m telling you, I made out like a bandit this Christmas!

Thanks Santa!

As expected, today was a very exciting day for all. Larsen was thrilled to see all of his presents under the tree when he got up this morning, and we were very happy to see him light-up when he found Santa’s note. Lots of goodies were delivered to our home this year including board games, roll-up piano, easy bake oven (yes, he wanted one of those), PEZ dispensers, walkie-talkies, Dr. Seuss’ books, Magnetix, “I can play piano” game, sewing machine, digital camera, and lots of other little goodies I can no longer recall.

Our yearly family get-together was held at our house this year, so we had a full house with everyone accounted for…except for Abuela (who we later brought in for a quick “hello” via video chat over the Internet). We had plenty of food and plenty of presents for the kids. The adults, on the other hand, went the “gift exchange” route since it gets a bit ridiculous for everyone to buy gifts for everyone else. During our Thanksgiving dinner we drew numbers and assigned everyone with one person to buy a gift for, that way every person would be responsible for only one gift.

The idea was for everyone to write down 3 things they would like under $40. For some reason nobody could think of anything in a pinch, so the list ended up being 90% requests for gift-certificates. When you think of it all of the adults simply exchanged $40 between each other: “Oh, thank you for the $40 gift certificate to Best Buy, here is your $40 gift certificate to Target”. I have a feeling the rules will definitely change next year

The excitement and anticipation of Christmas was in full-force this year, probably something to do with the excitement of a certain 5 year-old boy we know. Christmas eve traditions started early on today, from the baking of cookies for Santa, to the constant playing of Christmas music throughout the house, to the reading of “’twas the night before Christmas” right before bedtime.

This year’s Larsen list for santa included an iPod, a Wii and a roll-up piano, but we are not sure how many of those Santa is going to be able to bring. He has been a good boy this year, so I have no doubt Santa has done his best to make sure he is properly rewarded (and then some). Santa sometimes goes a bit overboard, but believe me it is all Mrs. Claus’s fault.

Eggnog consumption went up significantly this year (all by me since Mandi won’t touch the stuff). I must have tried at least 6 different kinds this year in search of the best commercially produced stuff, and I am here to tell you they all pretty much suck! I thought I had found the best of the bunch (Braum’s), but this belief was quickly dismissed after I decided to make my own. THANK YOU ALTON BROWN!!! After watching an episode of Good Eats on how to make your own eggnog I decided it was time to take it to the next level. Let me put it this way, if you like eggnog you owe it to yourself to make your own at least once. You will never buy the mass-produced stuff ever again. Oh yeah, make sure you try it with some good bourbon…it really gives it that extra “something”.

But enough about eggnog…lets bring it back down a notch to milk and cookies. Before bedtime Larsen put the note he wrote Santa next to some cookies and a glass of milk for Santa. I’m sure it is going to be an exciting time come tomorrow morning.

“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”

Having had Larsen’s 4th birthday party at our house last year, we decided this year it would be nice to leave the pre and post cleaning to someone else. Although Main Event is very close to our house, Mandi had heard about a new place in Frisco called Strikz that she wanted to try. The concept is exactly the same as Main Event, but everything is newer since they have only been open for a short time.

Everything went just as planned, but by far the best part was only having to worry about the invitations to the party. These places have the whole thing down to a science, and we had a fun afternoon of bowling, birthday cake and arcade games. Of course, we ended up going home with way more presents that any child should get on one sitting.

There is definitely something to be said for outsourcing birthday parties. We were all very happy to skip the cleanup and make it back to a house that was just as we left it.

Today Larsen turned 5, but the preparations started the night before with Mandi plastering “Happy Birthday” signs and banners everywhere around the house. I did my part by putting together one of Larsen’s presents, a battery-powered 4-wheeler he has been wanting since the day he got a ride on a real one at Aidan’s birthday party.

Larsen was very surprised when he woke up this morning to see all the signs that had suddenly appeared overnight. Once he made it to the kitchen and saw his presents, he was very eager to get busy opening them. It is no surprise that his favorite gift of them all was the 4-wheeler, but he was also very happy to get a new set of Magnetix and a metal detector amongst other things.

Later that day we gave Larsen the power to choose where he wanted to go for his birthday dinner. For some strange reason he decided Joe’s Crab Shack was the best place to dine for your 5th birthday. Maybe there is just something magical about Joe’s chicken fingers, or maybe Larsen just knows daddy digs Joe’s. I’m all about the Dungeness crab, but I rarely get a chance to go since Mandi doesn’t share the same level of satisfaction I do by going totally medieval on a crustacean. At any rate, Larsen participated in Joe’s little birthday ritual by wearing a cowboy hat and riding a broom around the restaurant as everyone sang “Happy Birthday” to him. Much to my surprise he was a good sport about it.

After what seemed like the longest 4 weeks ever, Larsen’s casts finally came off today. Having a 4-year old in casts for that long is no picnic, so both Mandi and I were counting down the hours. Today was also Larsen’s birthday, so overall it was a very busy and eventful day.

I should point out that just a few days after Larsen got his casts they were subjected to his sick stomach’s chunky “aftermath” (I am so glad we no longer have carpet in the bedrooms!). As you might expect this did not fare well with the casts, making them both soggy and very stinky. This led to yet another hospital visit, where Mandi’s perseverance resulted in a new set of casts. It is because of this cast-removal event that we were prepared to deal with the drama we knew was about to unfold. As it turns out kids are not all that crazy about circular saws spinning around their limbs, and in Larsen’s case this turned out to be borderline traumatic.

In anticipation I brought my iPod ready with the Cars movie soundtrack (he loves Rascal Flatts’ “Route 66″ and Sheryl Crow’s “Real Gone” songs) in hopes this could help drown the noise from the saw and tone down the whole dramatic moment. As expected there was a good share of crying and screaming once the sawing began, but nothing compared to the first time back when his casts were replaced. We’re not sure if it was the iPod, the book in front of him, the whistle toy he got, or the fact that both mommy and daddy were there, we’re just glad he wasn’t sobbing for the next few hours like he had done before.

FYI: 4-weeks worth of “foot-funk” is not an easy stench to cover up, no matter how much baby lotion you smother on them (acquired, not deducted, knowledge).

We are all very glad this whole cast experience is behind us. Now we can go back to regular shoes, baths without the need for shower-seats or plastic bags, and normal-smelling feet.

Tonight we attended the yearly Kid’s Kingdom (Larsen’s Pre-K school) Christmas Program. What a difference a year makes! We were treated with a whole new repertoire that they had been practicing for a while now. Mind you, these are 4 and 5 year olds, so I use the term “treated” loosely.

Every year the kids make their own shirts to wear for the show. This year it was a Christmas tree made using their fingerprints. We thought they turned out quite nicely. They were all glowing with excitement and it was obvious they were ready to show off all their hard work.

There is just something very endearing about kids of that age performing in front of a crowd, no matter if they are quiet and shy or flaunting their talents. The difference between now and last year’s program was definitely noticeable, so we spent less time worrying about unexpected behavior and more time enjoying the show with all of its nuances. This year “golden” moment came when their music teacher “graciously” tripped and fell on her way down the stage. The traditional “gasp” reaction followed by laughter ensued. She was fine, albeit a bit embarrassed by it all.